Recently jtdemers was asking in another thread which sense could be given to the minors of this mysterious deck and was referring to a thread on forum.tarothistory.com discussing the heraldry on the pentacles cards.

All the members seemed to take for granted the arguments advanced by a certain M. Popoff in the well known M. Depaulis' booklet "Tarot, jeu et magie" from 1985. I disagree with several of his assignments hence this thread.

From the upper left to lower right & according to M. Popoff (taken up by Stuart Kaplan in the second volume of his encyclopedia) : 1-Dauphiné 2-Gian Galeazzo Visconti (Milan-Visconti) 3-Bretagne 4-Artois.

Here I disagree with 2 & 4 and I would like to advance a new explanation which has the advantage of linking the 4 coats of arms together.

Dauphiné is the privilege of the heir of the kingdom, also called Dauphin. It happens that François 1er (1494-1547) had 3 sons :

The elder, his favorite, François de France, le Dauphin, was Duc de Bretagne (Duke of Brittany, stoat arms in 3). He died in Tournon (Ardèche) in 1536.

The following son was Henri (future Henri II 1519-1559) Duc d'Orléans. It's Orléans and not Artois that is shown in 4 :

It's Charles and not Gian Galeazzo Visconti that the 2nd coat of arms represent.

Of course the three brothers were TWICE the descendants of Valentina Visconti :

1- Via Charles d'Orléans the great poet for a long time prisoner in London, Louis XII and their mother
2- Via Jean d'Orléans brother of the preceding Charles, Charles d'Angoulême 1459-1496 and their father

It must be noted that only Henri II united in himself the 4 titles as well as their coats of arms represented on the card : d'Angoulême by birth, d'Orléans as he is the second son, Dauphin and Duc de Bretagne when his elder dies in 1536.

A - Archibishop and Duke of Reims (anoints and crowns the king)
B - Bishop and Duke of Langres (bears the sceptre)
C - Bishop and Duke of Laon (bears the sainte ampoule containing the sacred ointment)
D - Bishop and Count of Châlons (bears the royal ring)
E - Bishop and Count of Noyon (bears the belt)
F - Bishop and Count of Beauvais (bears the royal mantle)

¤ 6 lay peers :

7 - Duke of Burgundy (bears the crown and fastens the belt)
4 - Duke of Normandy (holds the first square banner)
6 - Duke of Guyenne or Aquitaine (holds the second square banner)
5 - Count of Toulouse (carries the spurs)
10 - Count of Flanders (carries the sword)
8 - Count of Champagne (holds the royal standard)

When the lay peerages were extinct or reunited to the Crown, other eminent dignitaries played their role. It 's precisely what happened on the 30th May 1484 during the coronation of Charles VIII (1470-1498) :

- Louis Duke of Orleans (coat n°12), Valois & Milan, future Louis XII, played the role of Duke of Burgundy (7) (extinct at least for France if not for the Hasburgs since Charles the Bold's death in 1477)
- René Duke of Alençon (coat n°11) played the role of Duke of Normandy (4)
- Pierre de Bourbon (coat n°9), Count of Clermont & La Marche (coat n°2), sieur of Beaujeu and Armagnac played the role of Duke of Aquitaine (6)
- François de Bourbon (coat n°9), count of Vendôme (coat n°2) played the role of Count of Toulouse (5)
- Louis de Bourbon (coat n°9), Dauphin d'Auvergne, played the role of Count of Flanders (10) (as for Burgundy the real Count was Maximilian)
- Philippe of Savoy, Count of Bresse, played the role of Count of Champagne (8)

Thus have we used all the coats of arms, excepting n°1 Paris and n°3 Lyon (that I will explain later)

On the evening of this day, a dinner was given in the royal palace. Charles was surrounded by the high dignitaries evoked in my precedent post but sitting next to him (to his left) was the Cardinal-Archibishop of Lyon (coat n°3) whose name was Charles II de Bourbon (coat n°9) [magnificent portrait by the Master of Moulins https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...pg?uselang=fr]. He was Pierre's brother, Louis was their uncle and Philippe de Bresse their brother-in-law. François belongs to another branch of the family. The fact the sigil is bigger emphasizes his importance but also the importance of Lyon (all the more so as this tarot is literally invaded by lions).

Now that all the coats of arms are explained, let's sum up what we have discovered :

-importance of François Ier and his three sons
-importance of Charles VIII
-importance of the family of Bourbon (4 or 5 members if we include Philippe de Savoie are represented on the 5 & 7 of coins)
-importance of Lyon

All these elements combined with the coat of arms on the 2 of coins and the unicorn on the Ace of Swords allow myself to affirm that the sponsor of this tarot is Antoine II LE VISTE (1470-1534) [https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Le_Viste] from a well-known Lyon-based family of jurists having served the Bourbon family and, in the person of Antoine II, the achievement and last male of his lineage, the Kings Charles VIII (whose he was the exact contemporary), Louis XII and François Ier. From his carreer : Prévôt des marchands de Paris in 1520; Président à Mortier au Parlement de Paris in 1523.

The original Le Viste's house still exists in Lyon, 29 Rue Saint-Jean.

Above all he is known for having been the sponsor of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, one of the greatest works of art of the late middle ages, rediscovered during the 19th century by Prosper Mérimée & George Sand in the Boussac castle and nowadays in the Museum of Cluny Paris. The images speak for themselves.

It is obvious to me that this tarot has been made seventy years before the alleged date, ie circa 1530. The astrologer or philosopher of L'étoile (the Star) looks a little like Erasmus of Rotterdam (1467-1536) whose life coincides quite exactly with Le Viste's life. It goes without saying that I don't adhere to the thesis defended by Popoff/Depaulis & Stuart Kaplan of a Strozzi and Gonzague involvement in this tarot.

Oddly I feel our tarot a little less anonymous and a little less parisian tonight

It is missing the blue diagonal of Viste, but with all the rest it is very convincing:

The unicorn, lion and other elements are not unique to this deck of course, as has been noted elsewhere have qualities in common with some German decks, such as the following at the British museum (not that it has to be unique, as a card-playing motif it is clearly one that would have appealed to Viste) :

Kwaw I am well aware of the existence of this deck and its similarities with the improperly called anonymous parisian tarot. But I'm not finished with the two of coins & the other coins cards yet. I will discuss thereafter what I've learn through it.

[Both Gebelin and Mellet mention the card game Aluette, stating the Spanish names of the cards preserved their ancient Egyptian origins, the one-eyed ace of coins being the Sun, Apollon [Phoeboae lampadis instar]; the cow (la vache = 2 of cups) is consecrated to Apis or Isis; Le Seigneur, le Maitre, the supreme being IOU (three of coins); etc]

Kwaw

*According to Mellet/Gebelin the Ace is called le Borgne, but in the rules I have seen it is the 2 of coins that is called the Borgne--

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